p, he
excited those friendly to the object to found the 'Association for the
Revival of Sacred Music in Scotland,' of which he was the director and
moving spring; and under its auspices he commenced a course of
_gratuitous_ teaching to classes formed of pupils from the parish and
district schools of Edinburgh, precentors, teachers, and operatives.
The success of these normal classes was so great and so rapid, that at
the end of the first year the pupils were able to become teachers in
their turn in their own schools or homes; and at the close of the
second and third sessions, concerts and rural fetes were held, at
which many hundreds of young voices joined in giving true and powerful
expression to such works of the great masters as _Judas Maccabaeus_;
while for the delight of their parents' firesides, and their own moral
improvement, the children carried home with them those simple but
touching and expressive melodies, composed by Mainzer for their use.
At the same time, Mr Mainzer carried on classes for the upper ranks,
especially for young children; gave lectures on the history of music
from the earliest times and in all countries; and published a talented
work on _Music and Education_, of which very favourable reviews
appeared at the time.[1] Mainzer had a peculiar predilection for
Scotland: its scenery, its history, its music, all supplied food for
his various tastes. With a poetic appreciation of the beauties of
nature, he desired no greater pleasure than to wander in perfect
freedom among our lochs and hills; and his descriptions of Edinburgh,
the Highlands, and Western Islands, which appeared in the _Augsburg
Gazette_, have brought some and inspired more with the wish to visit
the Switzerland of Britain. The history and music of Scotland threw
fresh light upon each other under his researches. He delighted to
trace the reciprocal influence of national events and national music,
from the time of the Culdee establishments of the sixth century, when
'Iona was the Rome of the north,' down to the _Covenanter's Lament_,
and the Jacobite songs of the last century. Since these days, the
spirit that invented and handed down popular song has passed away with
the national and clannish feuds which gave rise to the gathering song
and the lament. The age of peace has been heralded in by the songs of
Burns and Lady Nairne, the authoress of _The Land o' the Leal_, who
has done much to restore the taste for our beautiful old melodi